Food IKEA Just Released Free Plans For A Sustainable Garden That Can Feed A Neighborhood

[TerriHaute]

This is an interesting idea but the wood shelves, even if painted, would not hold up for long in damp weather. However, an ingenious mind could modify it to work well, IMHO. I also doubt if it would feed an entire neighborhood, but one shared by a couple of families could be enough. --Terri

Learn how to build a spherical garden in 17 steps with this open source design provided by IKEA.

There’s a lot to appreciate about the Swedish company IKEA. From its numerous projects which have helped raise awareness about the Syrian peoples’ plight to its commitment to the environment by using mushroom-based packaging that decomposes within weeks, the furniture business is progressive, to say the least.

Now, IKEA has released open source plans for The Growroom, which is a large, multi-tiered spherical garden that was designed to sustainably grow enough food to feed a neighbourhood. The plans were made free on Thursday with the hope that members of the public will invest their time and resources to create one in each neighborhood, if not in every person’s backyard.

The tools required to create the spherical garden include plywood, rubber hammers, metal screws, and diligence to follow the instructions comprised of 17 steps. The Huffington Post reports that The Growroom isn’t shipped in a flat pack like most IKEA products. Instead, users are required to download the files needed to cut the plywood pieces to size and are encouraged to visit a local workshop where the wood can be professionally cut. The free instructions online walk the builder through the remaining steps.

According to a press release, there are already plans to build Growrooms in Taipei, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, and Helsinki. You can add your city to the list by jumping on the opportunity and crafting a Growroom in your neighborhood.

The project is the brainchild of Space10, based in Denmark. The company writes:

“Local food represents a serious alternative to the global food model. It reduces food miles, our pressure on the environment, and educates our children of where food actually comes from. … The challenge is that traditional farming takes up a lot of space and space is a scarce resource in our urban environments.

The Growroom …is designed to support our everyday sense of well being in the cities by creating a small oasis or ‘pause’ architecture in our high paced societal scenery, and enables people to connect with nature as we smell and taste the abundance of herbs and plants. The pavilion, built as a sphere, can stand freely in any context and points in a direction of expanding contemporary and shared architecture.”

Following are some photos of the open source design:

http://www.newagora.ca/ikea-just-re...t-can-feed-a-neighborhood-by-amanda-froelich/

 

[summerthyme]

I dunno....

I'd like to see it full of FOOD plants (can't tell in the photo, but while some of what is planted may be greens, much of it appears to be decorative, and/or herb plants.

You start trying to grow any serious calories in that thing, and you'll quickly find out it's not feeding "a neighborhood"... or even one family, in terms of actual caloric needs. And I have serious reservations whether or not those pots have anywhere near enough root room for anything like tomatoes...

It also looks like shade might be a problem... no matter which way you orient it, some of it is going to be badly shaded a good part of the day (the bottom tiers and the north facing side)

It's also going to be one heck of a lot of fun to keep waterered, unless you design and rig up a drip watering system that you can run from the ground. And as TerriHaute pointed out, the wood isn't likely to hold up, unless it gets several coats of marine spar varnish.

All that said, it IS pretty! I just doubt its practicality.

Summerthyme

 

[Freeholder]

Maybe it could be set on those heavy-duty casters that are used for really big planters? Then it could be turned periodically so the different sides could get some sun, although it would definitely be best for greens, as shallow as the planters are. Just growing greens would be a big nutritional boost, but it wouldn't provide much in the way of calories. And in order to have fresh greens year-round in most climates, it would have to be indoors, and would probably need artificial lighting. And yes, watering would be an issue -- those shallow planters would dry out quickly, even more so if it was outside (especially around here, with the drying winds we get).

I do like the idea, though.

Kathleen